Iran hits out at US for threatening to permanently cut WHO funds amid coronavirus

| May 20, 2020

Iran has criticized US President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to the World Health Organization (WHO) over COVID-19 handling amid the global battle against the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

“As global health is at stake & we need global solidarity & science-led leadership more than ever, Trump’s letter to @WHO Director-General is undermining the professionalism & independence of the Organization. It is a vain attempt at the wrong time,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a post on his official Twitter page on Wednesday.

The remarks came after Trump threatened to permanently stop funding the WHO and withdraw from the UN agency unless it makes “major substantive improvements within the next 30 days,” without detailing the improvements.

In a four-page letter to the WHO head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump announced late on Monday night that he will make his “temporary freeze” of US funding permanent after criticizing WHO’s response to the pandemic.

He also said that the WHO also risked losing the US membership after the 30-day deadline.

Trump’s letter comes as he is under scrutiny for his scattershot approach toward the handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The United States is now on the top of the list of the worst-affected nations across the globe with over 1,570,000 confirmed cases.

The US president has also been under fire for resorting to a blame game strategy to shift the blame he is facing for the worsening situation inside the country to others.

He has accused the WHO of mismanaging the spread of the virus, which first emerged in China in December, and has threatened to cut ties with China over what he calls Beijing’s failure to contain coronavirus, in another apparent bid to cover up his administration’s mismanagement in response to the pandemic.

The coronavirus, which was publicly reported in the US at the end of February, has also claimed the lives of over 93,000 nationwide.

On Saturday, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry had also lashed out at the United States for pressing ahead with its acts of sabotage while the world is in need of a united fight against the deadly coronavirus outbreak, saying Washington continues to encourage division and violence across the globe.

“From West Asia to Latin America and from UNSC to WHO, the US causes division, steers violence and spoils multilateral institutions,” Mousavi said in a post on his official Twitter account.

He added that the “US continues to disrupt, distract and sabotage” at a time that all countries in the world need to “get united in solidarity and unified in action against #COVID19 pandemic.”

The spokesperson included in his tweet some media reports showing Washington’s acts of sabotage in different parts of the world.

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